The invention relates to baby care product holders (conventionally known as diaper bags) and baby seat covers. More specifically, the present invention relates to a decorative diaper bag supported by a baby seat with an entertainment component.
A baby seat conventionally known as an infant car seat or infant carrier is routinely used for transporting infant children. A diaper bag (similar to a woman's purse) is routinely used to transport baby care products such as diapers, bottles, diaper wipes, pacifiers, diaper rash ointments, burp cloths, toys and the like. Until the present invention, caregivers of infant children have found it necessary to carry both a baby seat and the diaper bag everywhere a baby is transported. (If an infant is transported by car, an infant car seat is required by law.) If the diaper bag is left behind, the caregiver finds him or herself ill prepared to care for an infant who has soiled his or her diaper, feed a hungry bottle-fed infant and/or pacify a crying infant.
Numerous car seat cover inventions exist which have been designed with a configuration for wrapping around or enveloping an infant car seat/carrier with the main purpose of providing protection to an infant seated in said baby seat. Inventions such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,056,355 and 5,956,767 were designed to wrap around said baby seat to protect a seated infant from the cold, acting as a blanket. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,019,421 and 6,039,393 were designed to protect the seated infant from the weather elements and/or insects with a cover that envelops said baby seat. The invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,153, invented by the inventor of the present invention, was also designed to provide protection from the weather elements, insects and germ transmission by unsolicited touching of the infant's hands.
Several styles of diaper bags also exist which are used for transporting baby care products. U.S. Pat. Nos. D,390,700 and D,326,188 are diaper bags which mimic a woman's purse. U.S. Pat. No. D,419,763 looks like or piece of luggage in shape and acts like a diaper bag in convention. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,298,993 and 6,298,509 describe inventions designed to convert from a diaper bag to a diaper changing station.
Still other inventions exist which combine seat covers with tote bags or diaper bags such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,336 which could be considered more of a seat liner with pockets, not designed specifically for use with a baby, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,855,412 and 5,829,835 which are specifically designed for use with babies, but are also more seat liners for use under a seated baby not covers designed to fit over an infant seated in an infant car seat/carrier.
Other inventions such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,333,769 and 4,698,862 combine baby carriers with diaper bags. Such inventions require the baby be removed from the infant car seat in order to use it. Caregivers of infants can appreciate the desire to leave a sleeping baby in its car seat so as not to arouse it. It also appears that such inventions are not useable as a baby carrier and a diaper bag in the same embodiment. These inventions are not covers for baby seats, but rather the seat itself.
Other inventions exist to entertain infants seated in a baby seat. U.S. Pat. No. 5,411,315 incorporates a toy bar for entertaining purposes but it is an entirely different type of baby seat and does not incorporate a diaper bag. U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,153 referenced above also incorporates an entertainment feature utilizing the support from the infant carrier sun visor. Again, said invention is a protective cover. It is not intended as a diaper bag.